Articles by Debra Rich Gettleman

I have to say, there are some cool things about living in Seattle. It doesn’t ever reach 120 degrees, the greenery is amazing and nobody ever cares what you wear, how fancy your car is or what label is on your newest handbag. That said, bar mitzvah planning is a totally different animal out here….

My title sounds like the opening of a bad joke. Unfortunately, it isn’t. It’s merely the start of my embarrassing behavior at the table of our new friends, a lovely Hasidic family who invited us to share Shabbat with them on a Friday night last month. My family and I arrived with the best bottle…

I have to admit it. For many years, traveling anytime between Thanksgiving and New Years left me feeling a lot more like a curmudgeonly Mr. Potter than an optimistic George Bailey. But I have happily turned the corner on holiday despondency – and I have three gallant gentlemen to thank for my elevated state. As…

Things are definitely different here in Washington state. If you follow the news, you will consistently read about Seattle as being one of the strongest and fastest-growing Jewish communities in the country. I have little reason to doubt this fact. Except that unless I’m at our wonderful new temple in North Seattle, I could swing…

Look, I’m Jewish. I have no identity problems. I’m not self-loathing (at least not for my religious preferences). I was raised Conservative with one set of Orthodox grandparents. We keep kosher, fervently observe all Jewish holidays and celebrate Shabbat every week. But I have to confess something. I find tremendous comfort in Christian rock music….

I’m sitting at my computer, writing. It’s 3:30 in the afternoon and there is a sudden and torrential downpour that seems to appear out of nowhere. I’ve just poured a cup of tea and for a moment I’m enjoying the beauty of the rain and the wet wind that brought it in as I sip…

“Mommy has a disease,” I hear my husband explaining to my 12-year-old son. I can’t quite make out the rest of the conversation through my quiet sobbing upstairs in the bedroom. But I catch some of it. “Will she be OK?” Eli asks. “Will I have the disease too? Will I have to take medicine…

I never moved as a kid. I never had to leave my house, lose my friends and start all over. I did as an adult. I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and then again to Arizona, the latter being the most challenging experience of my lifetime. But here I am, arguably in the second…

It’s interesting when something happens that makes you look at your life completely differently. Like you make some huge cosmic connection that explains something about yourself in a way you’d never thought of before. I’ve been having a lot of those moments lately. The first one came after a recent yoga class. I struggle with…

When my son was 5 years old my husband and I temporarily lost our minds and spent a ridiculous sum of money on a mini version of a Hummer for him to drive around the neighborhood. This car was totally amazing. Now that I think about it, perhaps it was part of our financially strapped,…

Explore a variety of non-political Jewish topics, including people, history, current events, laws, culture, humor, food and Israel. Each participant reads a section of a select article, which is followed by spirited discussion. No extensive...